How CGS Cut Overdue Balances by 53% with Kolleno

Carolina Georgia Sound (CGS) has been delivering professional audio visual (A/V) services across the southeastern United States for over 35 years. The company built its reputation on reliability and craftsmanship, but behind the scenes, its financial operations were stuck in the past.

When new owner Grant Wycliff acquired the company, he saw an opportunity: bring modern tools into a business that hadn’t evolved financially. With just one person managing 500+ monthly customer accounts, collections were chaotic, inconsistent, and mostly manual.

Grant turned to Kolleno to regain control, and the results were immediate.

The Challenge

When Grant acquired CGS, he inherited a strong business, but one that still relied on a legacy collections system. The company’s collections process had long been under-prioritized, relying on manual, reactive processes. 

Now, that gap was starting to affect CGS’s cash flow.

1. An Overwhelmed Finance Function

The day-to-day burden of collections fell to one person: April. She handled all receivables, follow-ups, and reporting manually. With a customer base of over 500 active accounts, the workload was simply unmanageable.

“She was just in over her head,” Grant explained. “She had so much more to do than she had time for. A lot of the time, she didn’t even have visibility into our receivables.”

Manual work consumed her day: tracking down payments, responding to emails, and updating spreadsheets. April was constantly in firefighting mode. 

2. No Systematic Approach to Chasing

Without automation, payment follow-ups depended on memory and calendar reminders. Late accounts often slipped through the cracks, not due to negligence, but due to a lack of structure.

“We weren’t amazing at collections,” said Grant. “It just wasn’t emphasized before. But for me, that was super important—why work so hard if we don’t get paid for it?”

With each passing month, balances crept higher, aging into 30, 60, and even 90-day buckets. April did her best, but the process wasn’t sustainable.

3. Poor Visibility into Receivables

Even basic questions, like who owed what, and how long payments had been overdue, were hard to answer. Reporting tools in Microsoft Dynamics Business Central were limited, and there was no centralized dashboard or alerts system.

“April was flying blind,” Grant recalled. “She couldn’t easily see what needed her attention most.”

The lack of visibility made it impossible to prioritize high-risk accounts, let alone take a proactive approach to collections. She was constantly reacting, rather than planning ahead.

4. Operational Bottlenecks Across the Board

Collections inefficiency wasn’t just a finance problem—it was an operational drag. Time spent chasing overdue invoices took away from higher-leverage tasks. Customers received inconsistent communication. Payment delays became normalized.

It was clear CGS needed more than a spreadsheet fix. They needed structure, automation, and insight. In other words, they needed a system built for modern collections.

The Solution

Why Kolleno Collections Management?

After a frustrating trial with a previous collections platform, CGS needed a solution that wouldn’t demand weeks of setup or technical expertise. “We wanted something turnkey,” said Grant. “Ideally, you press a button, and it just works.” 

Specifically, they were looking for a solution that offered: 

• Automated follow-ups to scale April’s efforts across 500+ customers.
• Real-time insights into aging balances and account status.
• Seamless integration with Microsoft Dynamics Business Central.

Kolleno delivered on all three and then some.

With Kolleno fully integrated and the automated chasing workflows live, CGS began seeing results almost immediately. Manual work dropped off. Visibility across accounts improved overnight. Most importantly, their collections process shifted from reactive to strategic. What once felt like a daily scramble became a streamlined, scalable system. 

Automated Chasing Workflows

The heart of CGS’s transformation came from Kolleno’s collections automation engine. Before Kolleno, every reminder email, follow-up, and overdue alert had to be manually managed. For a small team handling over 500 active customer accounts, that approach was simply unworkable.

Now, Kolleno handles those follow-ups automatically with structured, intelligent chasing workflows. Each customer receives reminders tailored to their behavior and invoice due dates. April no longer spends her day digging through spreadsheets or calendars to figure out who needs chasing. Kolleno does it for her, consistently and at scale.

“The automated chasing really just makes it so that we’re doing the right things,” said Grant. “It takes a lot of the manual work off April’s plate.” This had an immediate impact. Instead of being buried in reactive tasks, April now has the space to intervene strategically when accounts require a human touch.

The system also adapts intelligently based on customers’ behaviour. A friendly nudge goes out a few days before a payment is due. If the payment is missed, follow-ups escalate with firmer messaging. All communications are fully visible within the platform, so nothing gets duplicated or lost. CGS can now ensure every customer is engaged at the right time, with the right message, without lifting a finger.

These chasing workflows have allowed CGS to impose better payment discipline across their customer base. The finance team is no longer chasing at random or responding only after accounts become severely overdue. They’re proactive, timely, and in full control.

Seamless Microsoft Dynamics Business Central Integration

Many software vendors promise easy ERP integration. Few actually deliver it without extensive IT involvement or painful setup. CGS desperately needed seamless connectivity with Microsoft Dynamics Business Central. They couldn’t afford to add another disconnected tool to an already strained process. Kolleno made sure they didn’t have to.

“We entered our Dynamics credentials,” Grant recalled, “and it just started working.”

That simplicity was a game-changer. Within minutes, Kolleno began syncing live customer records, invoice data, and payment statuses directly from Business Central. April no longer needed to manually input invoice updates or reconcile figures between platforms. Everything appeared in one place, always up to date.

The integration works in both directions. When a customer pays an invoice and April records it in Kolleno, the update flows straight back into Business Central. No duplication. No lag. No risk of two systems saying two different things.

This real-time connection eliminated countless hours of manual cross-checking. It also drastically reduced the chances of human error—missed payments, mismatched balances, or outdated contact details. Instead of juggling spreadsheets and ERP exports, April now relies on a single source of truth for collections.

By linking Kolleno directly to Business Central, CGS synchronized their entire receivables process. What used to be a fragmented, error-prone task became a smooth, automated operation that scaled effortlessly.

A Centralized Collections Dashboard 

Before Kolleno, visibility was one of CGS’s biggest roadblocks. April had to juggle ERP exports, inbox searches, and handwritten notes just to piece together a picture of who owed what. There was no single place to see aging balances, follow-ups, or communication history. Every insight came with effort and delay.

Kolleno changed that overnight with its centralized collections dashboard. Now, April logs into a single screen that shows her everything she needs: which invoices are overdue, which customers have promised to pay, and which accounts need follow-up today.

“Now, when we look at the dashboards, we can see exactly which payments are late—and we know exactly where to focus,” said Grant. 

The dashboard isn’t just a static report—it’s dynamic, real-time, and deeply actionable. April can click into any customer and immediately see their full history: previous emails, payment timelines, disputes, and notes. It’s all tracked and stored in one place, giving her full context before every outreach.

With better visibility, CGS moved from reactive to proactive collections. Instead of constantly responding to issues after they escalate, April can now spot trends, address payment risks early, and make smarter decisions with confidence.

The dashboard became the nerve center of CGS’s receivables process. It put control back in April’s hands and removed the guesswork from getting paid.

The Onboarding Experience

Thanks to Kolleno’s onboarding team, the entire rollout felt effortless. Integration with Microsoft Dynamics Business Central was near-instant—no need for IT support, no manual field mapping.

April, who had never used a tool like this before, received hands-on support from day one. “The customer support was awesome,” Grant said. “They were patient and probably offered more help than we needed.” That white-glove approach meant April quickly felt confident managing the tool independently.

Instead of waiting months to go live, CGS was up and running in a few weeks. Customer data flowed into the system, workflows kicked in, and overdue balances were immediately visible on the dashboard. “We didn’t have to sit around and wait if there was a problem—and there weren’t many problems anyway.” 

Most importantly, the smooth onboarding process meant that Kolleno quickly started delivering genuine impact. 

The Impact

What began as a search for visibility and control ended in a full financial transformation. In just a few months, CGS reshaped their collections process, reducing overdue balances, reclaiming time, and restoring confidence across the team.

Kolleno didn’t just help April chase payments more efficiently. It gave her the structure and support to manage 500+ customer accounts with clarity and consistency. For a small finance function, the shift from chaos to control was massive.

The numbers tell a clear story:

• 53% reduction in average outstanding balances
• 64% decrease in 1–30 days overdue invoices
• 79% drop in 61–90 days overdue 

These weren’t small gains—they were fundamental improvements in how CGS managed cash flow. With automation in place and live dashboards at their fingertips, the team could act strategically.

CGS now operates with greater control, stronger customer communication, and faster payment cycles. For a lean team managing a high volume of accounts, that transformation was revolutionary. 

“We’ve been able to clean up a lot of the long-standing overdues and impose better expectations on our customers. Kolleno has transformed how we manage receivables.”

– Grant Wycliff, President at CGS

Ready to Transform Your Collections Process?

Book a demo today to see how Kolleno can revolutionize your accounts receivable management.

Find the solution by use case:

• Collections & AR Management
• Cash Application Management
• Credit & Risk Management
• Disputes & Deductions Management
• Team & Task Management